


From The Inside Out

by HeartOfTheMirror



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Case Fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Gun Violence, Guns, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, Sass, bad breakup, bubble tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 03:36:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3753049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfTheMirror/pseuds/HeartOfTheMirror
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garcia catches on to a hacker who has been erasing and tampering with evidence in order to keep murders from being prosecuted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From The Inside Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moirai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moirai/gifts).



> Thanks to Moirai for beta'ing this story.

The cool glow of Penelope’s computer screen was the only light in her office. The darkness didn’t matter though, because she couldn’t look away from the rapid, scrolling text on screen any more than Reid, Prentiss and Hotch could look away from a crime scene without seeing an unsub. This text, these lines on screen, they were her version of profiling. She could follow trains of code back to motives and sources the way profilers could follow subtle hints and clues all the way to their more human subjects of study. 

Not that she thought she would be hunting for anything when she sat down.

She had only been trying to do Rossi a quick favor before she left for the night. ’d bribed her with a fresh pack of fuzzy neon pens to optimize the search and organization of their digitized files and add some notes here and there to help speed up the research and citation process for his latest book. It was a new manual for instructing promising agents in the bureau on behavioral analysis techniques and cases studies. 

But something wasn’t adding up. At first it was just little things. Things she thought might have been simple human error. Even fabulous, intelligent, sexy FBI agents were known to make a mistake or two occasionally. 

But then there were things that were a little bigger, things that were harder to write off as unintentional. Human error could only account for so much. She had to double check.  
She was such a familiar face in the records room that no one even bothered to ask why she was interested in the outdated paper documents.  
The files were still spread out over her desk and scattered on the floor around her chair. 

The oldest errors were nothing fancy. Edited with white out and a ballpoint pen, just tiny things, articles wiped out, colors changed, nothing significant. Like whoever was doctoring them was just waiting to see if they’d been caught. The errors weren’t all consecutive, and if there was a pattern to the files that were changed Penelope couldn’t see it.  
The concerning thing was that after a dozen or so files in this manner the phantom editor started to escalate. Witness statements were changed, entire pages and photographs were missing. Things that could get a case thrown out if the file ever needed to be shown in court, things that made alarm bells start ringing inside her platinum blond and hot cotton candy coiffed head. It was then that the phrase “evidence tampering” first crossed her mind. 

But it wasn’t like it was every single case had been edited and altered. Whatever her phantom editor’s motivations, he had only selected certain files and had only deleted or edited certain documents in them. 

He must have thought he’d covered his tail pretty darn good, and props to him ‘cause he would have got away with it if it wasn’t for one particularly spunky meddling kid. But not matter how good the editor was Penelope was a certified Computer Whisperer Hella Genius, and she had a feeling about these things. She couldn’t physically take on bad guys like her macho man Derek but she was relentless with a keyboard beneath her manicured fingers.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was how a project which was meant to take 30 minutes on her way out the door had turned into a two hour obsession. She couldn’t leave even though she knew the building would be almost empty by now. She had to scan through every digital file, compare it to the paper, collect the data from the alterations and compare those cases to each other, looking for anything that could tie them together. Anything to tell her what the hell was going on.

She saw to that herself. She had checked everywhere but the system’s access logs all seemed normal without any signs of backdoor entry at all. So logically, that could only mean that the tampering had been done by someone in the building. She’d Nancy Drew’ed every possible route that an outsider could have taken. She’d listened to her inner Victorian detective and eliminated the impossible, so whatever remained no matter how improbable… 

She didn’t want to believe it was one of their people, one of her friends who she trusted, who she saw every day. But she was also a member of the FBI and she knew from plenty of past cases that not wanting to believe things didn’t change them. Everyone who ever worked in this building knew that.

She should have called Hotch the second she noticed something was off but she’d been so certain that it was a glitch in the system or a false alarm, something she could fix without worrying the others. She was the only one who could do this, and what was the point of alerting the team before she had something solid to give them?

That’s when she’d turned away from the paper files, which could only tell a 21st century tech savvy babe like her so much, and decided a little digital forensics were in order. She hadn’t even thought to check and see if the phantom editor was still in her system, so certain was she that no one could be doing this to her while she was sitting right there.  
The most recent changes on the system logs were less than an hour before she’d started looking. Her fingers flew on the keyboard tapping rapidly as she rushed to bring up a menu of all the active processes by all the users in the system.

Most of them looked normal but there was one open and operating terminal in the building, one that was running an RDP. An RDP that would let him look in on any other user, let him play with their system, change their programs, do whatever he liked as easily as if he were sitting behind their keyboard. It was something she used all the time. So it wasn’t hard for her to bring up the source and target the bastard’s IP.

The source was on the third floor, not an office she knew by heart. But it was the target of the RDP process that made Penelope’s breath catch in her throat and her fingers stuter over her keys. 

“Oh hell no,” Penelope muttered to herself. “This bastard is not- he is not- playing peek-a-boo on my computer!” He was not lurking around on her computer, watching her put all this together and waiting, just waiting, to see how far she got.

There was no chance for her to stew in it however, because before she could even go on the offensive her charming phantom editor was already trying to shut her out of her own system. The nerve of him.

“You crafty, crafty black hat,” Penelope said, pressing her perfectly fuschia lips together, more determined than ever to show this little rat who was the tech boss around this office.

She could barely dance around him, working furiously to block his access to her computer. She was just getting ready to sharpen her teeth on his terminal with a nasty little counterattack when she saw it. Whatever it was that he was trying to hide, this guy was dead set on erasing all evidence of his illicit deeds . He was implementing a batch delete protocol- erasing huge quantities of data, protected information, case files and who knew what else.

Using her super handy hacker Admin powers she pecked away at his processes one by one, killing his RDP, his batch delete as best as she could. Her phantom editor didn’t sit down and take this idly though . The virus he sent her was half way to locking her out of her system before she even recognized that she’d been infected.

Her screen turned black. A smiley face blinked on, winked at her, and then her computer began wiping itself clean- all her processes, all her data, all her programs disappearing in front of her eyes. Penelope threw herself bodily from her chair and yanked the power cord from the wall, hoping wildly that she’d saved herself from a very unwelcome factory reset.

She crawled over to where her tote had spilled it’s guts over the messy menagerie of files on her floor. She rummaged through her purse with shaking hands until she found her cell phone. There was only one number to call in a situation such as this.

Derek answered on the second ring. She knew he’d be in the building , she knew it.

“Hit the button!” Penelope gasped, fumbling to keep her glasses in place as she stood from under her desk.

“The button?” Derek laughed. “What are you talking about baby girl?” 

“The button in the bullet proof casing near Hotch’s office!” Penelope yelled desperately. She wasn’t panicking. This was the BAU, she totally wasn’t panicking. “The Holy Shit button, the one Reid thinks is just for show, hit it now! I’ve been hacked, locked out of the system, someone’s inside the building and they’re erasing everything, hit the button!”  
“On it,” he said, immediately racing away from his desk. 

"The button was time-to-panic red, the clear casing covered in dust. It was something that had been installed back in the Cold War era as a blank slate protocol, fueled by communist-crazed paranoia. Thanks to this button, there was no way that the reds were getting access to privileged government information. After domestic terrorist attacks became the new global threat, the FBI decided to update the emergency protocol to include lockdown measures. Containment was key in the post 9/11 era. 

Unfortunately in this case, the updated protocol meant that only someone with key card access could jumpstart the lockdown. No way in hell did Derek have the clearance for that, even if his ID wasn’t sitting at his desk.

He swung around, searching for something, anything he could use. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from its place on the wall and heaved it up over his head, bringing it down on the casing, smashing it to hell until it was loose enough to pry away from the wall. The button itself depressed easily when he pushed and then clicked, locking itself in place. Emergency protocol said he had 20 seconds before total lockdown. 

Derek took off like a shotgun, powering his way to Penelope’s office with all the intense fury that overcame him when there was a touchdown to be made or un unsub to be caught. There was no way he was gonna leave his girl alone when he could hear the tremble in her voice, when he knew without the least doubt that she needed him next to her right now.

Penelope’s door was open wide so she could see him the second Derek turned into the hallway.

“Derek!” she yelled as the lights cut out and the door swung shut on its own as the electric locks engaged. He skidded to a halt, half a second from running right into the door that now kept him from her.

“Damn it!” Derek yelled, smacking his palms against the metal barrier. His phone rang in his pocket.

Penelope’s hands were trembling. She fought to control her breathing as she heard him answer the phone. 

“You’re okay,” Derek said in his chocolate thunder voice. He knew she loved that voice. He knew it would help to keep her calm. Penelope pressed her hand against the door, knowing that her knight with a shining FBI badge was right there on the other side.

“This is really bad,” Penelope whispered in the dim glow of the emergency lights. She shuddered, wishing Derek was next to her, right there to hold her.  
“Everything’s okay baby girl, everything’s okay. I got you,” he whispered through the phone.

“No, no it’s not okay. It’s not okay Derek. We need to call the others, we need to call Hotch and JJ, we need to call everyone. Every case we’ve ever worked on, all of them, all the files on the server are in danger,” Penelope said.

“What do you mean? I thought the panic button shut down the WiFi, the computer network, everything but the emergency lights and electric locks?” Derek turned, pressing his back against the door.

“It doesn’t matter,” Penelope told him, “not if he can get into the server room. None of our files are backed up externally, all the copies, the logs, all of it is stored in the server room. If he can destroy the hardware in there then he could destroy everything. Every case we’ve ever worked on could be reopened. The open ones could be thrown out. Everything the team has ever done could be called into question.” Penelope couldn’t stop shaking, she couldn’t help but feel like this was her fault. The network was her responsibility. This had happened on her watch, literally.

“Where is he? Did you have time to get a location on this bastard?” Derek asked, his face going stone hard and serious.

“Third floor, an office on the north side of the building,” Penelope told him weakly, finally beginning to feel like this situation was something manageable, solvable, and something they could handle.

“The second I get this creep, I’ll be right back here for you, okay hot mama?” Derek said, trying to keep his voice calm for her sake.

“Go do your thing, hot stuff,” she said, flirting weakly. Derek hung up and hit the speed dial for Hotch.

“What the hell is going on down there?” was the first thing Hotch said when he answered the phone.

“Someone hacked Garcia. They got into her computer and started tampering with evidence and open case file. She tracked him down to an office on the third floor before she called me to hit the button.” Derek said as he stalked back toward the bullpen. “She thinks he’s going to target the server room to wipe the remaining copies of the case files. I’m en route to his location now.”

“SWAT is on their way but it will take at least 20 minutes for us to set up a perimeter and coordinate with the local PD before we can go in. Protecting the case files is important, but don’t let this guy get to you Morgan. Don’t let him throw you off your game. I know how personal this feels right now. We’re all feeling that way. This man came into our home, I understand that. But don’t get emotional about this. You’ll get reckless and you’ll end up throwing yourself into a situation you can’t control.”  
“Understood,” Derek said, unwilling to fight Hotch on the subject, not when he didn’t have time. “Is there any way you can control the electric locks from outside? I’ve got no idea how I’m getting from here to the third floor when everything’s locked down like this.”

“Unfortunately, no. The system was designed so only someone with a director’s clearance or above can override it and even then it doesn’t have the precision to let us choose which doors to unlock. Even if we wanted to lift the lockdown, we wouldn’t be able to cut the emergency power to open up the doors because everything is functioning on the backup generators right now. To override the system, we would need to get to those generators and we don’t have time for that.

“So I’m on my own on this one,” Derek said, more tired than he had felt at the beginning of this call but no less determined.

“Not necessarily. Rendezvous with Reid,” Hotch ordered. “I’ve got him on the other line. He’s still in the building. He stayed late to work on his new thesis in the BAU room but luckily he was in the bathroom when the locks engaged.”

“Got it, I’ll call you when I got something,” Derek said, hanging up and racing against the clock toward the bullpen, where he knew Reid would be. 

“Derek!” Reid called as he saw his friend rush into the room. He was standing by his desk, clearly waiting for his friend and teammate. It was obvious that Reid was scared but he was a strong kid and this was far from the most frightening situation he’d ever been in.

“Hey kid, did Hotch fill you in?” Derek said. Reid nodded. “I’m gonna need that brain of yours. Tell me how we get around the locks on the stairwell doors and don’t give me none of that ‘but I didn’t look at the classified building blueprints, Derek’ bull.”

“The elevators are out. Even if we could force our way into the air shafts there’s no way of telling where the cars are. I can’t guarantee that it will hold your weight but they were reinforced to be stronger during the Cold War so they could function as escape routes in the case of hostage situations. Even if we do find an elevator car, we could still get stuck on any floor. Navigating the air ducts is probably our best bet. They’re small but if you have the blueprints to the building memorized and you don’t mind falling two stories at a time it’s pretty easy to navigate,” Reid said.

“Where’s the nearest access point smart guy,” Derek said.

“Over there,” Reid said, pointing to the corner over Agent Valhos’s desk.

“Tell me you have a screw driver,” Derek said, looking up at the vent in despair. Reid shook his head, pressing his lips together in consternation. Morgan drew his firearm, aiming for the screws in the dim lighting and shooting them out one after another.

“Impressive,” Reid said in that voice that meant he didn’t want to show how amused he was at the way Derek chose to solve his problems with brute force.  
“I try,” Derek said with a hastily faked cocky smile. He pushed aside SA Valhos’s keyboard and climbed up on the desk and into the vent. Once inside he called Reid, ready to be talked through the dark maze of the air ducts. His shoulders pressed against the hard edges of the aluminum cube he was crawling through, the air was thick and metallic smelling. It was fucking awful and Morgan’s been at plenty of crime scenes with not-so-fresh victims.

All the same it was surprisingly quick to get to the third floor.

Just as he kicked open the vent to his exit, he felt the whole building rattle around him, he heard the percussion of the blast through the walls.  
“Reid man, what happened? You okay?” Morgan asked.

“I’m fine,” Reid said, his voice shaken. “It wasn’t from this floor. It was from upstairs. I think it was the server room Morgan, I think he blew it up.”

“Oh shit,” Morgan said, covering his eyes with his hand. “God,” Derek muttered to himself. Everything was gone. He’d failed. They were so fucked. “How the hell did this guy get up to the server room? Don’t tell me Mr. Spiderman can climb up two stories as easily as I fall down them.” He was trying hard to keep the situation from looking too grim but he should have known Reid was too smart to fall for that. 

“I don’t know,” Reid said. “There are ways for him to short out the locks on the stairwell doors. He would need to have the right device with him. It would be homemade like the bomb. He’s been planning this for a while Morgan. He couldn’t have known Garcia would catch on to him today. He’s been bringing this stuff in slowly, in bits and pieces, keeping it all hidden in the building while he waited for this to happen. He knew exactly what to do when the power went out,” the younger profiler’s voice was shaking but it was anger this time and not fear. Morgan was proud of him, of how he was handling the situation but they still needed to keep on task.

“We’re gonna get this sonofabitch, don’t you worry about that. Right now I need you to take cover. Lock yourself in the bathroom and don’t open the door unless I call you, alright? This guy could be anywhere,” Derek said as he started testing doors to see if any of them had been unlocked.

“I’m not afraid of him. And I’m armed,” Reid said defiantly. “We need to find this guy before he takes hostages if we want everyone to get out of here alive. I’m gonna call Hotch and see who else is in the building. We have to warn them or get them to safety if we can.” It only took three tries for Derek to find the door that gave. He started sprinting up the stairs toward the server room immediately.

“You’re right. Start with Garcia, she’s locked in her office and if that dick can open any door he wants right now and we can’t then she’s a sitting duck. I need you to protect her while I look for this bastard. I’m gonna find him if it’s the last thing I do.” Derek hung up and slipped his phone in his pocket. 

He was on his second flight of stairs when he got the call.

“What’s up, baby girl?” Derek said, going for nonchalant. The practical part of him was screaming that he shouldn’t have answered but how could he ever leave her alone and scared in the dark? He couldn’t.

“Someone’s outside,” Penelope whispered into the phone. She was crouched in the corner of her office, holding her lime green desk lamp like a baseball bat and listening to the scuffle going on outside her door. 

“It’s just Reid, don’t worry, sweetheart,” Morgan tried to soothe her fears.

“It’s not just Reid,” Garcia whispered furiously. “There’s someone else. There was a struggle.” They both flinched as they heard the echo of gunfire.

“I’m on my way!” Derek yelled. “Don’t worry baby, I’m comin’ to get you. Just hide, I’m coming sweetheart.” Derek ran up the stairs double time. He dialed Reid but there was no response. He dashed through the bullpen, hurdling over a fallen chair on his way to Garcia’s office. Stopping just before the hallway, he took a deep breath and drew his weapon.  
He rounded the corner into the hallway with gun drawn.

“Kevin?” Derek asked incredulously when he saw who he had in his crosshairs. Kevin was standing in front of the door to Garcia’s office, an unconscious Reid dangling from his arms. Reid’s own gun was pressed to his temple. 

“Looks like I found Princess Peach,” Kevin said with a dark laugh. “In another minute and a half my little lock pick device is gonna open that door and then me and Penelope are gonna walk out of this building, and leave you people and this unappreciative place behind forever.”

“Kevin, you need to listen to me man. This isn’t you. We all know you man, you’re one of us. Whatever you’re going through you can talk to me about it brother.”

“No,” Kevin said, shaking his head, sweating nervously. “No, this is me, you just didn’t wanna see it. You couldn’t look past her. I was just one of Penelope’s accessories to you. The only time you saw me, the only time anyone ever saw me was when they were looking over her shoulder. Guess you can’t profile people from glimpses because you clearly missed the signs.That’s okay though, I understand. It’s hard to look at anything else when she’s in the room. She glows like the sun, I know you can see it.”  
“Why are you doing this?” Morgan asked, hoping if he could get Kevin talking he could prevent the situation from escalating. 

“I’ve always had these thoughts, you know? But I could never do anything about them I was too afraid of being caught. I wanted to be cool, you know. I just wanted people to like me here. I don’t like being sick or twisted. I don’t like being a loser. You wouldn’t know anything about that though, would you Mr.Cool? Mr. Chocolate Thunder.” Kevin scoffed, rolling his eyes as Reid groaned, and stirred, slowly beginning to regain consciousness. The lock pick beeped from where it was connected to Penelope’s door, the red light on the credit card sized device blinking green.

“You’re gonna let me and Penelope go or I’m gonna blow Spencer’s brains out and I’ll make you watch. Don’t think I won’t. I’ve come too far. I’ve gotta see this thing through to the end now,” Kevin really had the crazy eyes thing going on.

“Okay man, I believe you. I believe you,” Morgan said, watching Kevin come unhinged before his eyes.

“Put your gun down!” Kevin shouted. “Put it down and kick it over here! Do it or I’ll shoot! After what I’ve done my life is over, do you understand? I’ve got nothing left but her. She’s the only one who ever saw me. We’re in love, she’s in love with me and I’m not letting you take that away from me. If I can’t have her I’ll shoot you both right now.”  
He pressed the muzzle of the gun more harshly against Reid’s temple.

“Kevin?” Reid asked, holding up his hands to show he wasn’t going to fight. 

“You shut up!” Kevin yelled. “You don’t know her like I do! We were talking about going on a vacation and she was so excited. So excited. We could be happy together if everyone would just leave us alone. Kick the gun over here.” Derek lowered his gun and did as he was told.

“Do you remember when I showed you that magic trick?” Reid said. “I wouldn’t tell anyone else but you, because you and I are friends Kevin. We are friends aren’t we?” 

“I said shut up!” Kevin screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. “I don’t have any friends! I never had any friends you pathetic, filthy, lying piece of shit!”

“Okay, okay,” Reid said in that kicked dog voice he got whenever he knew he was half a second away from being killed by an unsub. Morgan fucking hated that voice. He wanted to kill everyone who made the kid speak like that and maybe not even kill them fast either. The only thing that kept him from going dark-side vigilante is the thought that doing that would make him no better than they were and that was a line he would never, ever cross.

“You think you’re better than me, don’t you? More handsome, more muscular? Smoother with the ladies? Well I don’t need any of that because I’ve got her. It must really kill you that she chose me, doesn’t it? She loves me and you’re nothing to her! She wouldn’t even care if I shot you right now.”

“Kevin?” Penelope called, her voice more shrill than it ought to have been, “I’m gonna open the door now, okay? It’s safe to come out isn’t it sweetie?” Kevin’s whole deranged face lit up.

“It’s safe, sugar pie,” Kevin told her, delighted in his own deranged way at the sound of her voice. “I made it safe for us so we can go away.”

“Garcia, are you-” Derek called, even more afraid than he’d been before.

“You shut up! Don’t you turn her against me!” Kevin screamed, yanking Reid around by his neck like a rag doll. Derek held up his open palms, pressing his lips together to force himself not to say anything. No matter how much he wanted Penelope to stay where she was, comparatively safe and out of this psycho’s direct line of sight, there was no way he could say anything without pushing Kevin over the edge. Morgan really didn’t want anyone to die today.

“I’m coming out now,” Penelope called. The door opened slowly but smoothly, revealing her peeking, pale face. She moved cautiously toward the unrealistically hopeful Kevin. She offered her boyfriend a wobbly smile.

“Let Reid go Kev,” Penelope said quietly, reaching out a hand to grip at her boyfriend’s shoulder. “I’m here now and we can walk out together. You don’t need to keep him hostage. Let’s just leave.”

“Pick up the gun,” Kevin said, eerily calm.

“What?” Penelope asked, taking her hand back from Kevin’s shoulder like she’d burned him.

“I want to believe you sugar plumb, you know I do, but this is a big life transition I’m asking you to make. I’d be a fool not to be sure that this is what you really want. So pick up the gun.” Penelope eyed him warily, as a child would who was sure that no matter what answer she gave to a question she’d be rewarded with a smack across the mouth. Slowly, keeping her eyes on Kevin, Penelope leaned down and began fumbling in the semi-darkness for Derek’s gun.

“Good,” Kevin cooed approvingly. “You’re doing so good gumdrop.” Penelope stood holding the gun awkwardly in both hands.

“I have the gun now,” she said in a high pitched rush. “Can we leave? Please? Let’s go before someone finds us.” Derek clenched his hands into white knuckled fists. Despite the frankly astounding number of fantasies Derek’s had about Penelope Garcia’s beautiful soft hands, her holding a gun had never been one of them. 

“I need you to do just one more thing for me first pookie poo. I need you to shoot Morgan in the chest. I need you to prove that you couldn’t possibly love them more than you love me. When you do that I’ll handcuff Reid and let him go and then we can go away. Together. Like it was always meant to be.”

“I’m not a killer, you know that,” Garcia protested, tears pooling in her eyes. “You know that’s not who I am,” she begged him, tears slipping down the corners of her eyes. She cast a quick glance at Derek who was as still as he could make himself. He wanted so desperately to call Kevin out, to draw his attention away from his friends. Hotch’s words came back to him and he knew that there was no way of getting Kevin’s attention that wouldn’t also destabilize his clearly fragile mental state.

“It’s okay, I know you’re a big softie at heart,” Kevin said. “But you’re strong too. They might not see that but I do. You don’t have to be afraid to be who you really are around me, Penelope. I know that if we’re going to really be together things are going to have to change. We have to be honest with each other,” Kevin said, smiling at her in that charmingly geeky way that had once won her over. 

“I know, I’ve been lying. About who I am and what I do and I know that you have been lying to yourself too. I know that deep inside you feel the way I do, you want the things I want. It’s scary, taking that first step. It took me so long, years, to do it and now I’m asking you for this leap of faith and it’s a lot. But I want to make this transition as easy on you as I can, cuddle bear.” Kevin cocked the gun he had pressed to Reid’s temple. 

“You kill Morgan and I’ll let Reid live. Do nothing and I’ll shoot them both and we can try this again when you’ve had some time to process everything,” Kevin said, his voice sounding so reasonable despite the lunacy of his words.

“Okay,” Penelope said, her eyes flicking back and forth between Reid and Derek. “Okay I’ll do it, just tell me one thing first.”

“Anything pookie. Consider me your open book.”

“Why did you doctor those files? Were you covering up for someone else or…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish, despite the situation, despite what she already knew.

“At first I was just bored. And I’ll admit, I got tempted. I wanted to know if I could get away with it. But then I got an offer, and let’s just say the BAU had some very expensive information on its hands and those idiots didn’t even realize what a cash pile they were sitting on. All I had to do was sweep away a few pesky details, make sure no one would ever put two and two together. 

“At first I thought it was just for the money, or the challenge, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t. I needed to do something to express who I really was. Finally I felt free. I knew it would be okay for me to be me. It was just so easy to cover up, to blame things on others or erase things altogether. The first time I took a life I felt this rush, this incredible potency, you know? You’ll feel that too, that tingling all over warmth, just as soon as you do it. Kill him Pen, become that majestic, strong, incredible woman I know you were always meant to be. He’s nothing to us. We don’t need him,” Kevin insisted, looking more and more wild as his constricting arms slowly choked out Reid.

“You’re right,” Penelope said, her voice as devoid of emotion as Derek had ever heard it. It broke his heart like nothing else had done. It ripped him open inside that he couldn’t protect her, that he knew that this bastard would lay his blood-stained hands on her the second she did something that didn’t line up with the Penelope on a pedestal in his head. It fucking killed him that he ever let that sick bastard touch her, sleep in her bed, hold her close with the hands that he used to kill innocent people.

“We don’t need him,” Penelope said as she cocked the gun. She held it awkwardly with both hands and it was painfully obvious that she’d never done this before.

“It’s okay baby girl,” Derek said, wanting her to know this above all things. “It’s okay Penelope, do whatever you have to do. I understand, alright? It’s okay.”

“I know,” she said, quiet, convicted, almost a little girl’s voice. Kevin was smiling so wide he didn’t even have time to ask a question before Penelope raised the gun and shot him through the collarbone. He dropped his gun and Reid lunged for it. There was so much blood. She was standing like a broken marionette, the gun dangling from her fingertips, her mouth not quite closed, her face splattered with blood.

Reid was covered in even more blood than she was, holding the gun trained on Kevin’s bleeding out form while Derek cuffed him. Kevin was beginning to regain consciousness from the shock, Penelope could see it from her place on the ceiling. She felt nothing.

SWAT were pounding their black boots up the stairs by the time Derek pried the gun from her unresisting hand and tossed it away from her, framing her face in his safe warm hands. His hands trailed down soothingly to her shoulders. He pulled her into his chest, rocked her back and forth.

The next thing she remembered, Derek was handing her a warm drink in her living room. She was sitting on the couch, cocooned within her fuzziest blanket, the purple one from college. She was in pajamas but she didn’t remember changing.

“What happened to Reid?” She asked Derek. He wrapped his arm around her, pressed a kiss to the messy hair at her temple.

“He’s fine. The bullet grazed him so he went to the hospital for a few stitches. Good as new.” He tucked some of her hair behind her ear and she leaned her head on his shoulder, too tired to keep it up by herself.

“I need to call him. I need to apologize. I shot him.” Derek took her face in his hands as he had outside her office and gently guided her to look him in the eyes. 

“Listen to me, you did nothing wrong. You didn’t do a damn thing wrong. Everything that happened was Kevin’s fault. You couldn’t have known. None of us knew. He’d read every book and article we’d ever written. He knew exactly how to hide. You did what you had to do to survive when someone you cared about betrayed you.” Derek’s brow was creased with worry. 

He was so sincere she could feel his words resonating in the air between them. She knew, in a way, that he was speaking the truth but there was some part of her that didn’t want to believe that. She felt like she had failed everyone. She couldn’t even keep him out of her own system, her own life, her own body. He’d slipped inside and she’d let him, never thinking twice.

“I brought him into our lives,” she said tearfully. “It was me. You and Spencer were targets because of me. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I never wanted any of this,” she wept, burying her face in Derek’s shoulder and letting him soothe her, rubbing along her spine and rocking her back and forth.

“Is Reid still at the hospital?” She asked suddenly, sitting up and wiping at her face. “He shouldn’t be alone. It’s not good to be alone after you’ve been shot.”

“He wasn’t shot it was just a graze. He’s probably at home enjoying the off-time Hotch might give him for a minor flesh wound. Don’t go letting that baby face fool you into pampering him the way he did to Hotch,” Morgan joked, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “Can you believe Hotch offered that kid his spare room? I don’t know about you but I’ve never been offered the spare room Hell, I’ve never even seen his spare room.” Penelope tried to smile but the muscles in her face didn’t seem to be working right.

“I don’t have a spare room to offer you,” she said, just because it was the first thing that popped into her mind and she didn’t want to go back to the all-consuming silence that had been ringing through her head since she pulled the trigger.  
“Then I guess I’ll just have to snuggle up real close to you tonight,” Derek teased, his eyes falling to her soft lips before he could help himself.

“I guess you will,” Penelope said, leaning forward to kiss him on instinct alone. For a moment it was the most amazing thing she’d ever felt. More amazing than that time she’d seen the Eiffel tower. Derek kissed with more passion than anyone she’d ever known. She felt consumed by him like a log in a fire, burning up to be with him, blessedly safe for one second as the residue of the day drifted away like smoke.

But then he pulled away from her, leaning back to deny her lips when they followed. She looked at him questioningly, only to see that his eyes were closed, his head tipped down against all possibility of even accidentally making eye contact.

“You’re not in a good headspace for this right now,” Derek said in that low rough voice he used when he didn’t want anyone to realize how emotional he was. Not that that ever worked on Penelope.

“I think I’m in the perfect headspace for this right now. We almost died today, Derek and if we had you never would have known how much I love you. This isn’t something new and we both know it. There’s been one thing or another standing between us for years so this isn’t some hasty decision I’m making just because we’re both alive. 

“This is something I want. No matter what happens tomorrow, please Derek, just help me feel something good tonight.” Derek scanned her face desperately, wanting so badly to give in but also not wanting to ruin the closest, easiest, friendship he’d ever had. “Kiss me,” she whispered. And how could Derek ever say no to his baby girl?

…

Three months later Kevin was tried as a domestic terrorist and put away for life. It was a short trial, more of a formality than an actual process of deliberation. The evidence of his crimes was overwhelming. As for all the important case files and other documents that had been on the server, well it turned out that the director had external hard drives stored in a safe only he had access too. Thank god for terrorism-era paranoia. The loss of data, as well as the financial and structural damage, were still enormous but nowhere near as devastating as it could have been.

Penelope had not only testified in the trial, she sat through every agonizing second of it with Derek by her side. He never let go of her hand. After the sentencing was read he kissed her gently on her temple and whispered suave promises in her ear to distract her from the media circus. 

It had been Reid’s suggestion that they go out for drinks afterward. The bubble tea place had been Penelope’s suggestion even though Derek still didn’t trust it and refused to even try the tapioca bubbles. 

Garcia was saving them a table while the boys stood in line. Derek refused to let her pay for her own drink on the grounds that they’d both have an awful day and they’d both feel better if she let Derek treat her a little. Penelope had to admit it was flawless logic.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” Penelope looked up from her smartphone. The man had a mustache and he was heavier set but not unattractive and practically oozing definitive confidence from his pores.

“Sorry,” she said with an apologetic little smile. “I’m here with someone. Two someone’s technically.”

“Oh come on, I’m sure your friends won’t mind. They did leave you here all alone after all,” the guy said, never losing his smile. “My name is Gary,” he said, extending his hand.

“Look, Gary,” Penelope said, ignoring his hand waiting near her face, “I don’t mean to be rude but like I told you I’m here with someone. I’ve had a really emotional day and I just so don’t have the time or the energy to go through this whole rigmarole with you.”

“Did I mention I’m a cop?” Gary said, leaning his hip on the table way too close to Penelope for her comfort. It put the badge on his belt firmly on display.

“Did I mention that I don’t care?” Penelope retorted, really getting angry now.

“Wow, you don’t have to be such a bitch,” Gary snapped. “If I’d known you were on your period maybe I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Derek said from behind the guy.

“Who the fuck are you? I’m a fucking cop buddy, you can’t talk to me like that,” Gary sneered, tilting the badge on his belt toward Derek. Then he made the very bad choice to position his body between Penelope’s and Derek’s more firmly. Before stepping forward, Derek handed his and Penelope’s drinks off to Reid, who was trying his awful hardest to not smirk at the unfolding situation. 

“I’m her boyfriend,” Derek replied, equal parts irritated and satisfied by the surprise on the asshole’s face as he said so. “And I’m only going to ask you one more time to leave the lady alone.”

“I don’t see your name on her.”

“Do you see my name on this?” Derek said pulling out his badge and shoving it in the asshole’s face. “It says Derek Morgan, FBI. Now I suggest you get the hell out of here or you and I are gonna have a problem that your badge can’t solve.” 

Gary swallowed, looking down at the badge, and then at Derek’s unmistakably fit, intimidating physique. He edged around Derek toward the door, mumbling a hasty, “Yeah, whatever, fucking asshole Feds.”

“Please tell me you’re going to call that man’s supervisor,” Reid said, watching Gary get in his cop car and pull away from the curb.

“I’m calling his supervisor’s supervisor,” Derek confirmed, drawing up a chair next to his baby girl.

“Chivalry’s not dead,” Penelope teased. “Make no mistake, I’m a liberated 21st century girl who has taken many, many self-defense classes but still. No matter how well I can take care of myself I have to say, it’s nice to have a big strong man like you to look out for me sometimes,” she flirted.

“Damn straight,” Derek flirted back, wrapping his arm around her and kissing her nose.

“So,” Reid interjected, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Does anyone want to see a magic trick?” Penelope smiled at him, leaning her head against Derek’s shoulder. For the first time in months she felt like everything was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I asked for a prompt and wrote this as a gift. What I received was this:
> 
> Possessive Derek  
> Sassy hacking badasss Garcia  
> First time/not established  
> Case fic  
> Adorable Reid  
> Bubble tea maybe  
> A whose-got-the-biggest-balls off  
> Garcia intentionally puts self at risk, Derek is unhappy about it  
> H/C heavy C 
> 
> I think I got most of it.
> 
> Let me know what you think guys! Comments and kudos are much appreciated :)


End file.
